Stoic Philosophy for Public Relations

Could sto­ic philo­sophy for pub­lic rela­tions work?

According to the sto­ic pub­lic rela­tions (PR) philo­sophy, obstacles must be seen as growth oppor­tun­it­ies. In this view, hard­ships are potent tools for con­quer­ing pub­lic opinion.

Here we go:

Zeno of Citium, the Cypriot Merchant

A few cen­tur­ies before the Common Era, a Cypriot mer­chant named Zeno faced a dev­ast­at­ing mis­for­tune: his ship, laden with valu­able cargo, was lost at sea. Overnight, he went from a wealthy trader to a man with noth­ing. Stranded, broke, and nearly defeated, Zeno could have suc­cumbed to despair.

After the ship­wreck, Zeno wandered into a book­store in Athens, seek­ing solace and answers. He stumbled across philo­sophy among the shelves — a life­line in his darkest hour. Immersing him­self in the works of great thinkers, Zeno not only rebuilt his life but also foun­ded Stoicism, one of the most endur­ing and influ­en­tial schools of thought in human his­tory. ¹Zeno of Citium. (2024, October 31). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​Z​e​n​o​_​o​f​_​C​i​t​ium

Stoicism teaches us to take the uni­verse at face value, striv­ing to align our will with the nat­ur­al order rather than rail­ing against it. It pro­motes resi­li­ence, self-dis­cip­line, and the pur­suit of vir­tue over fleet­ing pleas­ures or extern­al suc­cess. While Zeno’s teach­ings were forged in the ashes of per­son­al loss, they res­on­ated across the ages, shap­ing lead­ers, war­ri­ors, and thinkers — from Marcus Aurelius to mod­ern CEOs.

What PR Can Learn From Zeno

At first glance, Stoicism seems worlds apart from the eth­os of pub­lic rela­tions and mar­ket­ing. Public rela­tions thrives on influ­ence — craft­ing nar­rat­ives, man­aging per­cep­tions, and shap­ing desires. It’s a world of super­lat­ives: big­ger, bet­ter, faster, stronger. Drama and con­flict are often tools of the trade, as PR cam­paigns stir emo­tions to cap­tiv­ate audiences.

Stoicism, in con­trast, emphas­izes restraint. It teaches us to remain calm amid chaos, let go of things bey­ond our con­trol, and seek con­tent­ment not in extern­al accol­ades but in intern­al virtue.

So, what could Zeno — who lost everything yet found his life’s pur­pose — teach the PR industry? 

Stoic Ideas for the Public Relations Industry

Imagine a PR cam­paign inspired by Zeno’s philo­sophy. Instead of hyp­ing up products or man­u­fac­tur­ing desires, it would focus on truth, clar­ity, and con­nec­tion. It would encour­age audi­ences to make thought­ful, informed decisions rather than impuls­ive ones.

This isn’t to say the PR industry should aban­don its tools of per­sua­sion. But per­haps we can wield them with a Stoic mind­set — anchored in pur­pose, groun­ded in real­ity, and respect­ful of the audience’s intelligence. 

After all, Zeno’s greatest les­son is that even the worst calam­it­ies can lead to trans­form­at­ive growth.

Learn more: Zeno and Stoic Ideas for Public Relations

The Obstacle is the Way

In The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, Ryan Holiday describes how choos­ing the path of the most res­ist­ance max­im­ises our growth as indi­vidu­als and organisations.

Having the odds stacked against you might not be as bad as it seems at first glance. If noth­ing else, it’s the start of a great story.

Drawing from sto­ic philo­sophy, Holiday argues that Stoicism isn’t just about endur­ing pain and adversity with per­sever­ance and resi­li­ence; it’s about allow­ing these obstacles to make you grow.

“There is no good or bad without us, there is only per­cep­tion. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.”
— Ryan Holiday

I won­der:
Could sto­ic philo­sophy be a mod­us operandi for pub­lic relations?

I’m cer­tainly intrigued by ima­gin­ing a con­trari­an PR pro­fes­sion­al who always sees oppor­tun­it­ies where oth­ers only see obstacles!

Learn more: Stoic Philosophy for Public Relations

Stoic Philosophy for Public Relations

I’m inspired by Stoicism — and intrigued by the idea of trans­lat­ing clas­sic­al Stoic vir­tues (wis­dom, cour­age, justice, tem­per­ance) and apply­ing them to pub­lic relations:

The Wisdom Pitch

“A Stoic is someone who trans­forms fear into prudence, pain into trans­form­a­tion, mis­takes into ini­ti­ation, and desires into under­tak­ing.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Tell PR stor­ies of how organ­isa­tions can be wise and over­come obstacles that have stopped oth­ers in their tracks. Convey PR mes­sages on how to apply wis­dom, know­ledge, and experience.

The Courage Pitch

“We can­not choose our cir­cum­stances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.”
— Epictetus

Tell PR stor­ies of brands that nev­er back down in the face of hard­ships that would des­troy oth­er organ­isa­tions. Convey PR mes­sages of how an organ­isa­tion can be right­eous even when storms are raging.

The Justice Pitch

“Concentrate every minute on doing what’s in front of you with pre­cise and genu­ine ser­i­ous­ness, ten­derly, will­ingly, with justice.”
— Marcus Aurelius

Tell PR stor­ies of how organ­isa­tions relent­lessly can strive for hon­esty and trans­par­ency — even when uncom­fort­able. Convey PR mes­sages about how all brands, without excep­tion, can rid them­selves of dis­hon­esty and incompetence.

The Temperance Pitch

“It’s not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.”
— Seneca

Tell PR stor­ies of organ­isa­tions that strive for high­er val­ues in a world where all oth­er organ­isa­tions suf­fer short­sighted­ness. Convey PR mes­sages of organ­isa­tions pre­pared to abstain from short-term gains to make the world bet­ter for all.

Learn more: Stoic Philosophy for PR Professionals

The Stoic Tonality

An organ­isa­tion is the poly­phon­ic sum of all its cowork­ers. Imagine extract­ing each cowork­er­’s most vir­tu­ous and mature traits and com­bin­ing them into one voice — the Stoic tonality.

Stoic Tonality Examples

“Why does­n’t your brand speak out against indus­tri­al over­fish­ing killing our oceans?”

“As a com­pany that sells fish­ing gear, we want our oceans — and all anim­als and plants liv­ing in them! — to be healthy and plen­ti­ful. We, too, were dis­turbed by the recent news of over­fish­ing. How could any­one not be? We now ask ourselves, how can our com­pany make more of a dif­fer­ence? Honestly, we’re dis­cuss­ing our strategy for sus­tain­ab­il­ity every day. I can­not say how or when we might take spe­cif­ic action regard­ing this latest news, but rest assured that we’re tak­ing the gen­er­al issue of sav­ing our oceans seriously.”

“Why does­n’t your brand engage in Black Lives Matter?”

“As for right now, we’re listen­ing. We’re listen­ing to the stor­ies being told. We’re listen­ing to under­stand bet­ter how we can learn and grow as a com­pany. As for inclus­ive­ness and human rights in gen­er­al, we think we’re doing a great job, and part of that is to stay open and care­fully listen to people’s stor­ies. We might take spe­cif­ic actions, but we’re listen­ing and learning.”

“Why does­n’t your brand join our protests against tox­ic mas­culin­ity and the pat­ri­archy?”

“Honestly, we’re a product com­pany. We make products for any­one who likes them. And I dare say that we’re experts in mak­ing these products. However, we’re not experts on ideo­lo­gies or soci­et­al struc­tures. So, for now, we listen. And we con­tin­ue to focus on mak­ing the best products that we can. For every­one. We believe that’s our best way of con­trib­ut­ing at this point.”

“Why does­n’t your brand sign our peti­tion to boy­cott all com­pan­ies on our Environmental Black List?”

“As a com­pany, we oper­ate dif­fer­ently. Instead of sign­ing peti­tions or par­ti­cip­at­ing in oth­er pub­lic demon­stra­tions, we take action with­in our sphere of influ­ence. And I dare say that our many envir­on­ment­al ini­ti­at­ives are mak­ing a lot of dif­fer­ence world­wide rel­at­ive to our size and reach. If we were to sign your peti­tion, we would first have to use our resources to research the legit­im­acy of its cre­at­ors and then make sure that none of the com­pan­ies on that list is being wrong­fully accused. While it would be pos­sible, we’ve decided that we can do more good by dir­ect­ing our resources to where we can make the most difference.”

“Why does­n’t your com­pany act against your female employ­ees who take time off for abor­tions?”

“All our employ­ees are grown-ups, and what they do on their own time is frankly none of our busi­ness. We’re a large com­pany, and we have employ­ees who are pro-life and pro-choice. We believe we have a work­place where people can have dif­fer­ent opin­ions but still respect each oth­er and work well together.”

“Why has­n’t your com­pany offered your thoughts and pray­ers for the vic­tims and their fam­il­ies of the school shoot­ing?”

“The vic­tims and their fam­il­ies have our empath­ies, of course. I speak for every­one work­ing at our com­pany when I say we were dev­ast­ated by the news as every­one else. But you’re right that we haven’t pos­ted any status updates about the shoot­ing on our Facebook page. It’s not that we don’t care (we do!), it’s just that we focus our updates on our products and ser­vices and how they make a pos­it­ive dif­fer­ence in the world.”

Learn more: The Stoic Tonality: Rise Above With Integrity

Existentialism: Thought Leadership, Advisory, and Education

Regarding thought lead­er­ship, advis­ory, and edu­ca­tion, I often remind myself of the beau­ti­ful words of the Danish exist­en­tial­ist Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855): ²Søren Kierkegaard. (2023, November 27). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard

According to Kierkegaard, ser­vitude is the found­a­tion for suc­cess for all aspir­ing thought lead­ers, advisers, salespeople, and educators:

“If one is truly to suc­ceed in lead­ing a per­son to a spe­cif­ic place, one must first and fore­most take care to find him where he is and begin there.

This is the secret in the entire art of help­ing.

Anyone who can­not do this is him­self under a delu­sion if he thinks he is able to help someone else. In order truly to help someone else, I must under­stand more than he — but cer­tainly first and fore­most under­stand what he under­stands.

If I do not do that, my great­er under­stand­ing does not help him. If I nev­er­the­less want to assert my great­er under­stand­ing, then it is because I am vain or proud, then basic­ally instead of bene­fit­ing him I really want to be admired by him.

But all true help­ing begins with a hum­bling.

The help­er must first humble him­self under the per­son he wants to help and thereby under­stand that to help is not to dom­in­ate but to serve, that to help is a not to be the most dom­in­at­ing but the most patient, that to help is a will­ing­ness for the time being to put up with being in the wrong and not under­stand­ing what the oth­er under­stands.”
— Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855)

Learn more: Existentialism for PR Advisers